Kettering University, community volunteers work to beautify, fight blight in Flint area

FLINT, MI – Volunteers went to work cutting back weeds and picking up trash to make their community a better place as a part of Kettering University's Service Saturday.

More than 150 volunteers went to Kettering University Saturday, July 12, to help in efforts to beautify the Flint area, said Jack Stock, director of external relations. Stock said crews went along University Avenue but also branched out as far as the area near McLaren Hospital, Flushing Road where Chevrolet and Dupont intersect, out to Saginaw Street, and out to the Hammerberg exit at I-69.

Crews worked from just before 9 a.m. until noon picking up trash and cutting and trimming areas down where weeds and trees have overgrown. Stock said this not only makes the area look nice, but also works as a crime deterrent.

"There's the beautification part, then there's the blight elimination part, it's all surrounding this concept called CPTED, or Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, which means you trim things down neatly below three feet and tall things up above eight feet so you have sight lines." Stock said. "If you make visible areas and you have sight lines then crime is reduced...What it shows in the end, is that somebody cares."

Stock said many of the volunteers at Saturday's event were freshmen coming as part of their orientation. He said the Service Saturday is a good way for them to become familiar with the community and volunteering.

Christian DuBrock is a senior at Kettering and has been volunteering his time with Service Saturdays for the past three years. DuBrock said he gets involved in several community service events on campus, but the Service Saturday cleanup is one of his favorites when he isn't out for his work term.

"It's a great way to get the students involved, seeing that the upper classmen are wanting to do things like this." DuBrock said. "One reason I believe that it is very important is because it helps the students feel more connected to where they are and help them feel more like it's a home and that they have to take care of it."

The cleanup efforts aren't done just by student volunteers. Stock said Kettering is working in collaboration with a number of neighborhood associations and community groups to help bolster the initiatives already in place.

"We're just helping other community groups, and when they feel like they're supported, it helps advance our goal of creating a better community." Stock said.

Stock hopes the cleanup efforts will also bring an economic boost to the Flint area with private investors coming to the University Avenue area.

Kettering University's Service Saturday is the second Saturday of each month with registration beginning at 8:30 a.m. Those interested in volunteering can find more information on Kettering's website.